Specialists run the world.

It is generally perceived that being specialist take you off through the career ladder. However this notion doesn't holds up strongly in the current scenario. There is mass unemployment in the country and those who are already employed are suffering from high level of burnout. People are being kinda 'forced' by the system to work. Humans aptitude, attitude and feelings are dynamic in nature. One should have a mindset of being jack of all trades at least early in the career (till 36yo at least). David Epstein in his book 'Range' advocated for delayed specialisation. Unfortunately the Indian education system designed as such that it tunnels the students into forced specialisation too early in the age. (Thankfully New Education Policy -2020 introduced multidisciplinary education in higher studies) Being generalist has it's own advantage, like it helps you discover what field you actually have talent at. It helps you to broaden up your thought process helping you figuring out what actually it takes to climb up the career ladder. It broadens up your cognitive bandwidth helping you in developing holistic approach in solving your problems even in your current domain. No segment works in isolation in this era globalised world. Economy is interlinked with geopolitics. Geopolitics is interlinked with technology. Technology is interlinked with popular culture. Nothing works in isolation. It's a fool's paradise to think being specialised in one domain helps you in your career growth.

I have been working as full stack developer past 7 years in stacks like react, react native , flutter, spring boot , nest, graphql so on and so forth. So far being generalist has worked for me as I am never out of projects. However recently I met one Engineering manager who advised me to become a specialist in one domain for better growth going forward . How do you all see this specialist vs generalist idea ?

I consider myself a jack of all trades. I run a small biz on the size. I’m quite disheartened by the lack of generalist leadership roles in companies. There is no natural career progression for a chief of staff. Plus, salaries for chief of staffs are not at par with CXOs. Is there no other way to rise up the ranks in a generalist role?

I'm in business strategy and majorly worked across different startups When looking for a new role, HRs tell me they are looking for specialized experience, or my experiences do not count as they are less than 2 years (in each company) I like being a generalist, I have learnt much more than I think I would have in a specialist role What do you guys think? I have 4YOE, currently in a seed stage startup

I have read a few articles about it and got mixed responses from the internet. Some are saying generalists have the upper hand in this rapidly changing environment & for some specialists will be the top earners. What's your take on this Grapevine family? It's important because some people like me get bored easily with monotonous work. Constantly indulging in multiple domains of work keeps us going.

Hey folks, recently have found myself on career crossroads. Not sure what kind of career paths generalists have after certain YoE. Are there some generalists on the platform with more than 6-7 YoE who can throw light on what kind of roles are available to generalists after a certain level? Ideally, would want to look at big tech cos. Current profile: 5yrs post mba work ex in consulting + startups.

MBA grads(3+ years of exp) who are yet to find their role/vertical/industry... What is your plan? When should one develop the 'expertise'?

I’m currently a data consultant with 3 YOE, 22 LPA. How can I best make the switch to PM? Would I have to take a cut to get a Product Analyst role and work upwards?